1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic commerce and more particularly to prequalifying sellers during the matching phase of an electronic commerce transaction.
2. Background of the Invention
Due to the ever-increasing popularity and accessibility of the Internet as a medium of communication, the number of business transactions conducted using the Internet is also increasing, as is the number of buyers and sellers participating in electronic marketplaces providing a forum for these transactions. In addition, the globalization of such marketplaces has resulted in an increased number of seller attributes that buyers may need to consider when determining which sellers best suit their needs. The majority of electronic commerce (“e-commerce”) transactions occur when a buyer determines a need for a product, identifies a seller that provides that product, and accesses the seller's web site to arrange a purchase of the product. If the buyer does not have a preferred seller or if the buyer is purchasing the product for the first time, the buyer will often perform a search for a number of sellers that offer the product and then access numerous seller web sites to determine which seller offers certain desired product features at the best price and under the best terms for the buyer. The matching phase of an e-commerce transaction (matching the buyer with a particular seller) is often inefficient because of the large amount of searching involved in finding a product and because once a particular product is found, the various offerings of that product by different sellers may not be easily compared.